


Take a Shot

by squashedwriter



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-15
Updated: 2015-11-20
Packaged: 2018-05-01 20:21:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5219504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/squashedwriter/pseuds/squashedwriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's a new blonde boy at school. Who is he? What happens when a girl holding a dark secret above her head finds out? What's her secret have to do with his?</p><p>What happens when a girl friends with a prankster lets her guard down? Will they be able to be together despite their differences?</p><p>Will the world ever be the same?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Arrival

**Author's Note:**

> This story is a rewrite of a story previously written on FanFiction.net. I have added in another character for future plot purposes. I'm still learning about her and her personality, so please bear with me.
> 
> Each chapter is either Callie or Riley. Callie will be first and Riley will be second. I will be posting them in twos.
> 
> Thank you to my friend Ali for helping me out with the plots and with Riley.

The train was set to leave in twenty minutes. Students and parents were saying their goodbyes, some short and awkward, some long and intense. Away from the love on a bench far away sat Callista Everwood, otherwise known as Callie and her adopted sister, Riley. They’d said goodbye to their father months ago. He worked for the Ministry and had been sent away on an important mission in June and hadn’t returned. Callie’s mother was murdered when she was five, as was Riley’s. Riley moved in with them, having lived a few blocks down. They had gone to preschool together and as it seemed, their parents were good friends.

Callie and Riley had gotten used to their father’s disappearances. It gave them time alone. They never spent much time with each other though, as they weren’t as fond of each other as one might believe. Their personalities were completely different and they ran in different friend circles, especially since they were both in different houses.  
When the two of them had started their first day, neither wanted to leave their father’s side. It was exciting, but they were scared to do something different, something on their own. However, once they got on the train and met their best friends, things changed. It seemed easier. Callie became best friends with Georgia Walker, Harry potter, Ron Weasley and soon on later, Hermione Granger and Ginny Weasley. While Callie was sorted into Gryffindor, Riley was sorted into Slytherin, becoming fast friends with Blaise Zabini and Draco Malfoy. The only Gryffindor Riley seemed to enjoy the company of was one Taylor James, a girl who never really enjoyed the fact that she was sorted into Gryffindor.

  
Riley stood up and skipped over to her friends while Callie stayed on the bench, just watching. She noticed her best friend Georgia, hugging her parents and had to admit she was jealous. Smiling, she made her way over toward Georgia, but stopped a few feet away. Her eyes widened and she blinked a couple times. She couldn’t be dreaming, but it sure seemed like it. In front of her stood the most beautiful boy she had ever seen. He had thick shaggy white blonde hair and smoky blue eyes. His dark jeans accentuated his perfect legs and his navy shirt helped with his muscles. Callie couldn’t help but stare. A smile slipped across her face and one on his as well. It was one of those rare genuine smiles all girls wanted to see.

She had no idea who he was but needed to find out. Once Georgia’s parents left, Callie hugged her friend. But she never took her eyes off the boy. Pulling away from the hug, Georgia raised her eyebrows and spun around to catch a glance of what she was looking at. There he was. He was the most beautiful boy either girl had ever seen. They both stood completely still with their jaws dropped. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw them and smirked.

It hit her. Callie knew exactly who he was, but she needed proper confirmation. It was the sexy smirk, the one that every girl in school fell for. Georgia was in love with it, just not the guy. The two stood there, staring. Georgia didn’t want to move. Both just wanted to stay there forever and stare at him.

The engine of the train started and the horn blew. Georgia and Callie grabbed their belongings and rushed up onto the train towards the last cabin. Their bags were dropped on the seats and they peeked out into the hallway, hoping to catch a glimpse of him. Slipping out into the hallway, they stood outside the cabin, engaging in terrible pretend deep conversation.

With a small smile, he walked past them to the bathroom, “Good morning Georgia. How are you, PC?”

“Great, thank you,” Callie responded with a large smile on her face.

Callie’s eyes widened. Only one person every called her PC. He was her best friend from her childhood. PC stood for Princess Callie. She knew she should have recognized him or remembered her nickname for him. But nothing was coming to mind. If he was her best friend, he’d changed. All she could remember was the cute childish blonde boy whom used to run in the rain with her and play endless immature games. It had been hard for both of them to leave school; they weren’t able to tell each other where they were going. It had been a secret for years until they stopped talking. Now, in her sixth year, she found someone call her that name. How they hadn’t run into each other before, she didn’t know.

“How do you think he knew our names?” Georgia asked, not taking her eyes off the bathroom door.

Shrugging her shoulders, Callie looked back towards the door, “I don’t know.”

Knowing full well who he was, she hid it from her friend. She didn’t want to see him emerge from the bathroom. But Georgia’s reaction with be the worst. Callie knew how much she hated him, how much they all hated him. Running her hand through her hair, she let her gaze slip over to Georgia, who bit her lip, anxiously.

The door unlocked and was pulled open. Out came a tall boy with white blonde, slicked back hair and the Slytherin uniform. Georgia’s eyes widened. She was shocked. That wasn’t at all what she had expected. Neither of them wanted to believe it. Callie didn’t want to think that he could have been her best friend. It couldn’t have been possible. There was no way that her best friend was the arrogant asshole they’d all grown up with it. She couldn’t figure out how it hadn’t crossed her mind.

Callie slunk down to the floor as he walked by. He raised his eyebrows, looking down at her as if she was a worthless nobody, “Get out of my way, Everwood!”

Immediately, she shifted her body so he could pass. He whipped his cloak in her face and marched up to his cabin. Her eyes wandered over in his direction, still baffled. After he had emerged from the bathroom, he was completely different. There were two sides to him; how could someone be sweet and sexy, but also rude, arrogant and a complete asshole?

Which one of them was an act? Were either of them one? Callie wanted to find out and wanted to meet the real him. As she looked up at her friend, she noticed her reaction was just the same. Standing up, whacking her friend in the back of the head, Callie gestured for her to head into the cabin.

  
Shaking herself from her trance, Georgia headed into the cabin after her friend. The two girls sighed and plopped down onto the seats. Their friends slipped in a few moments later; Ginny, Ron, Harry and Hermione. All of them had managed to get along very well, quite quickly. This was much to Ron’s dislike, considering he had to hang around his kid sister all day. But he got over it. Hermione’s gaze moved over to Georgia and Callie, whom were still shocked. Her head was cocked to the side as she tried to figure out what they were staring at.

“What’s so shocking that you have to stare into space for?” Hermione asked bluntly.

Callie’s head lifted up and she mouthed the words ‘hot guy’ without blinking.

“If he was so hot, why aren’t you swooning?” Ginny asked.

“He was gorgeous until we found out who he was,” Georgia confirmed.

Hermione smiled, thinking about the gorgeous blonde boy she’d seen earlier that morning and asked, “Was he blonde by any chance?”

Callie nodded. It was the gorgeous blonde boy who knew her childhood nickname. Even after seeing him come right out of the bathroom, she didn’t want to believe it. How was he her best friend? How had she not recognized him when they went to school that year? Her and Malfoy had fought tons of times. But she hadn’t noticed it. Was he that good at hiding it? Had he really tried so hard to shield her memory from it? For years she’d been searching for him and he was right under her nose the whole time. It was almost silly and confusing.

For the rest of the train ride, she sat, trying to think. What in the world was she to do? After finally arriving at Kings Cross Station, she quickly ran off the train with Georgia trailing right behind her. They jumped into the first carriage they could get. When the door opened, both girls face palmed as the arrogant blonde boy came in.

“Ugh, Walker, Everwood. Why did this have to be the only bloody carriage left?”

“I don’t know. Why are you so bloody rude?” Callie spat in his face.

“Because I’m a damn Malfoy.”

Callie rolled her eyes and slumped against the back of the carriage. Georgia couldn’t help but look at him. Even though he was her enemy and the one asshole they all tried to forget, she couldn’t get over the fact that a few hours ago he’d been a gorgeously sexy boy. He glared over at them, crossing his arms across his chest. For the few minutes of the carriage ride, they all became frustrated with each other.

When they finally arrived at Hogwarts, Malfoy rushed out and up into the castle. The two girls climbed out and walked up in after them. He seemed a little too excited to leave the two of them. They knew he hated them, but that was a little bit much. As all of the students piled into the Great Hall, everyone was licking their lips. As always, the feast looked unbelievable. Callie sat down at the Gryffindor table and caught a glimpse of him from across the room. She saw that smirk, that signature sexy smirk.

It was strange. She had never thought he’d be nice. He just wasn’t that type of guy. There was a reason for it, wasn’t there? People didn’t just change overnight. Was there a reason for it? If she hadn’t seen it before, why was it so important now? Was he perhaps bipolar? She glanced back over at him. What was so different about this year that he felt the need to change? Was there something specifically important about this year?

Callie knew her sixth year was important but she couldn’t understand why his might be. He was after all just that arrogant bastard that had been pissing her off for years. But she was afraid of this year. He was back and her life would only be more stressful. She didn’t need to deal with any of his drama. Resting her arms on the table, she looked up at the front of the hall where Professor Dumbledore was beginning his usual welcome back to Hogwarts speech.

A sigh escaped her lips and stared in front of her. The pain was back. It was even more excruciating every time. She squeezed her hand, trying to ease the sudden pain. Lately, it had been worse and much stronger than before. Callie hated how it always happened when she should have been listening. Clenching her teeth, she shut her eyes and tried not to think about it. It wasn’t helping. Turning to Georgia, she knew she had to just deal with it.

“Let me know if there’s anything horribly important. I’ve got to go.”

Georgia tilted her head to the side for a moment, confused, before she realized why Callie needed to leave. She nodded and watched Callie run towards the door of the Great Hall. Pulling it open, it squeaked. The entire school turned to look at her. She laughed awkwardly and slipped out. Still clutching onto her arm, she ran down the large stairs and exited through the main door. As she ran through the open air to the main school gate, she took a deep breath. This wasn’t something she missed. The minute she left the school grounds, she disappeared.

A few hours later, back in the common room, Georgia was pacing back and forth, waiting for Callie to return. Hermione and Ginny were looking at her, confused. They knew something was up, but didn’t know what. For their better judgement, they knew not to ask Georgia. She’d only snap at them. Yet, they still watched her. Georgia was worried, very worried and it was obvious. She had never been very good at hiding her emotions and all of her friends teased her about it.

The portrait swung open and in stepped Callie. Georgia whipped her head around and attacked her in a hug. Holding onto her for a moment, she had to know her friend was okay. When she let go and brought her over to the couch, she narrowed her eyes at her.

“What took you so long?” Georgia shouted at her.

Hermione and Ginny had no idea what Georgia was talking about. They knew that Callie disappeared at strange times, but it was never weird to them. In Hermione’s head, she was studying, even though the hours were strange. She wanted to believe that Callie actually cared about school as much as she did.

“Sorry, he just wanted more than usual.” Callie responded, shrugging.

“I swear I’m going to kill him one day,” Georgia said, grumbling.

Callie laughed silently to herself. Her friends rolled their eyes, confused and went back to writing their essays. Getting comfortable in an arm chair in the common room, she curled her feet up and wrapped her arms around her knees before drifting off to sleep.

Rain pattered onto the glass windows of a young girl’s house. Gazing out at the droplets falling down, she sighed. She wanted to go out and play. A large grin grew across her small face. She rushed away from the window and into the coat closet. The door to the closet opened again and the small girl emerged with a pair of bright red galoshes on. She rushed out the door and ran next door.

She pounded on the door and yelled, “PD! Open up! PD!”

“PC!” a young boy with white blonde hair squealed as he opened the door.

“Let’s jump in the puddles!” PC stated, giggling, quite excited.

A large grin grew across his face as he ran into his house, informed his mother that he was going out to play and came back out with a pair of dark green galoshes. PC smiled, grabbed his hand and pulled him out into the rain. The two rushed out, excited. They splashed in the puddles, dancing and singing out loud. PC giggled as PD splashed her with water.

They ran around in circles, stepping in all of the puddles they could.

From inside, they heard, “Callie, come in for lunch! Bring Draco in with you! His mum’s over here to join us!”

Draco grabbed Callie’s hand and the two ran inside for lunch.

Shifting in the arm chair, Callie smiled at the memory. Running out in the rain with him was always her favorite memory. He was so much fun to be around and always seemed to brighten her day up. Slowly, she opened her eyes. In front of her, Hermione and Ginny stood, eager to know what she was grinning about.

“Close much?” Callie asked. “It was just a dream about a friend of mine. We used to dance in the rain together.”

Hermione narrowed her eyebrows at Callie, not sure whether or not she should ask exactly who. She liked to think she knew who all of Callie’s friends were, but now, there was one she was keeping a secret, one that she didn’t deem good enough to talk about. Crossing her arms across her chest, she went back to her book, trying not to let it bother her.

Sighing, Callie pulled her knees to her chest. How had he gone so quickly from being the boy she grew up to the Slytherin Prince? The way he looked at her and talked to her changed so quickly. Her best friend in the whole world was Draco Malfoy and she couldn’t stop herself from thinking that maybe, just maybe the boy she met before he came out of the bathroom was the Draco she remembered.

There was someone inside him that wanted to get out. She could see it. The gorgeous, sexy, blonde boy she’d seen that morning was the boy she remembered. He called her PC and grinned like there was no tomorrow. That was the boy she wanted as a friend.

She wanted to be his friend again, but knew it was a bad idea. If he was going to be two different people, she wouldn’t be able to deal with it. Once minute he’d be nice andsweet and the next, he’d be an arrogant asshole. All Callie wanted to do was curl up into a little ball and forget about how stupid she felt, about how stupid she must have been to think he could ever change.

“Earth to Callie! We’re gonna be late to Potions. I don’t want Snape yelling at me. It was bad enough when he yelled at Ron,” Georgia explained, snapping in front of Callie’s face.

Callie jumped, coming out of her trance and sighed, responding, “Great. Just what I need.”

She pulled her hair up into a messy ponytail and grabbed her books from the table, where she’d left them the night before. Racing out of the common room, she followed her friends down to the dungeons. It wasn’t that Callie didn’t like potions; she really did. It wasn’t that she didn’t like Professor Snape; she did. In fact, he was one of her favorite teachers. It was the house she was sharing the class with. After that dream, she didn’t want to see his blonde head of hair for at least a few days.

Plopping down onto the chair, she couldn’t help but smile, glad to be on the opposite side of the Slytherins. There was no reason to worry. They’d learn just like any other day and she wouldn’t have to speak to him. The doors of the classroom burst open as Snape entered proudly. He crossed his arms over his chest, took a deep breath and grumbled before addressing the classroom.

“Professor Dumbledore requests we mix up the partners. He claims we need inter-house relations. I disagree, but I’d like to keep my job. So, Callista Everwood, switch with Pansy Parkinson. Hermione Granger, switch with Damien Cruz. Ron Weasley, switch with Henry Jason, and the rest of you make your own partners with an OPPOSITE house member.”

Callie groaned, stood up, grabbed her books and shuffled over to switch with Pansy Parkinson. When she saw whom she was sitting next to, she scrunched up her nose in disgust. Dropping her bag next to her desk, she sat down. Her books were slammed on the desk as she heard someone mumble something.

“Do you have something to say, ferret?” Callie snickered.

“I said, how’s the gorgeous Gryffindor Everwood doing today?” The boy asked.

Callie scoffed, “Shove it, Malfoy.”

“But I can’t help it. You just look so beautiful. I don’t think we’re going to get anything done this year,” Malfoy said, smirking that signature smirk.


	2. Arrival

Riley skipped over to her friends, holding up her hand to give Blaise a high five. He laughed and grabbed her, giving her a tight hug. Draco Malfoy smirked, ruffled her hair and waved, leaving her behind. He had other things to tend to and she had to say she didn’t really mind. They had plenty of time to catch up before they got to school. She had missed her friends over the holiday. They weren’t anything like her sister, Callie. Each of them were more fun to be around. They were sassy, they liked to laugh and they didn’t spend their time trying to help others.

It wasn’t that she didn’t like helping, she just didn’t want to think about it when she could spend her time having fun. Once she finished school, Riley knew there wouldn’t be much fun to be had at all. Now was her chance and she was going to take advantage of it.

“How was your summer, Everwood? Come on, tell us you’ve got some gossip,” Blaise asked, quite intrigued.

“Not even in the slightest. You know, I thought having a sister would be good, but we’re so different. It’s not even entertaining,” Riley stated, huffing. 

She was sick of not getting along with Callie, but like she said, they were so different. How was she supposed to get along with someone who didn’t share the same values as her? So, she may not have gotten the chance to know her, considering they were in different houses, but that shouldn’t have mattered. Riley was friends with one of Callie’s friends, Taylor James. She did spend more time with her than Callie did, but there had to be something that Taylor saw in both of them. 

“Dude, I’m sorry, that sucks,” Blaise responded.

The two girls that stood by her, Emily Jordan and Lauren Tuft crossed their arms over their shoulders. They needed some excitement in their lives. Although, they were sure that once they got on the train and got to school, things would pick up. Heading onto the train, Riley plopped into what she liked to deem hers and her friend’s compartment. If anyone else sat in them, she wouldn’t be responsible for what happened.

Putting her legs up on the seat, she got comfortable, sinking into the chair. The door to the compartment opened and her best friend, the very well known, Slytherin Prince. Riley was aware that her sister was friends with him when they were younger, but he was her friend now. She’d quickly learned that neither of them really spoke to each other and Callie didn’t seem to recognize him or if she had, she tried not to think about it because he wasn’t whom she remembered.

Draco sat on her legs, cross-legged and looked down at her with a cheeky smile before he spoke, “How’s it going, short stack?”

“I’m not that short, gel boy!” Riley fired back.

Emily and Lauren couldn’t help but laugh as they sat down in the cabin, staring over at the two. If they hadn’t behaved like a brother and sister, they would have wanted them to get together. Lauren had recently figured out a secret and she’d told Emily that morning before Riley arrived. The two of them knew about Riley’s crush, but there was no way they could tell anyone. Not only would Draco hate her, but both houses of her and her crush might.

“You’re shorter than me, therefore, I get to say it. Now come on, I was told you didn’t have gossip. I need some,” he explained, huffing.

“The rumor is you have some, gel boy. I heard from a few birdies that someone didn’t put his gel in until he got on the train. What’s up with that?” Emily questioned. 

Draco sank deeper into the seat, pushing Riley’s legs off the seat. He let his feet drop to the ground as he shrugged his shoulders, explaining, “I don’t know. Got late this morning?”

Blaise couldn’t help but laugh. He folded over in laughter as he looked back up at his friend. “You got late this morning? You, the boy whom puts aside an hour just to do his hair? You got late? I can’t believe that.”

“Don’t make me hex all of you!” Draco retorted. 

The train rides were always like this and that was the way the five of them enjoyed it. From the first moment they’d all become friends, their personalities had managed to work perfectly together.

“There’s a reason, Malfoy. There always is,” Riley said, finally moving her feet to sit properly in her spot.  
Turning to look out the window, Draco tried to avoid finishing the rest of this conversation. What did it matter to them how much gel he put in his hair and how he dressed? He wasn’t doing it for them. It was for someone else, someone whose attention he was trying to capture in just the right way. For the moment he’d succeeded, he was happy. It had worked and now, his friends were teasing him. There was no way he’d tell them.

Before anyone could say anything else, all of them turned to face the door, hearing high pitched screams and strange noises coming from the hallways. Riley stood up, opening the door and peeked out to find a first year crawling on the floor. His face as covered with strange spots and his friend behind him was curled up in a little ball, mumbling to himself. There was only one answer to what had happened.

Weasleys. A smirk slipped across Riley’s face at the thought of it. She’d never told anyone about her crush, no, she couldn’t. Nothing would ever come of it, she knew that. No one would ever approve, no matter how much she wanted it. Being friends with them wasn’t going to help either. In fact, it only seemed to make things worse. People judged her for hanging out with them. They weren’t in her house and therefore, associating with them was frowned upon.

Riley Everwood had a crush on George Weasley and she couldn’t tell you how it happened. It sprung up out of nowhere, but she could clearly remember the day. George and his brother, Fred, had planned a prank that she’d found too much pleasure in watching play out. Somehow, over the course of the next few days, she’d developed a crush. Now, anytime they needed an extra hand in their pranks, they’d come to her. Well, George would come to her. Fred didn’t care for her as much.

Leaning up against the door, she chuckled, shaking her head down at the first years on the ground. They’d fallen for one of Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes. One of them lifted up his head to look to her for help. All she did was stand there and laugh. Why would she help a helpless first year when laughing was so much more fun? This was child’s play, but she knew they couldn’t cause too much trouble on the train as it made it even more difficult to carry all of the helpless and injured first years off into the hospital wing.

Coming out of one of the compartments was him, George Weasley. He was beautiful. Riley had always been able to tell them apart and she wasn’t even sure why. They were identical and yet, she knew which one she had a crush on and which she didn’t. The smirk on his face only made her want to run up to him and tackle him with a hug and perhaps even a kiss, but she couldn’t do that. George was just her friend. That was how it would stay.

His eyes met hers and she clenched her fist, begging herself not to blush. That happened around him quite a lot but he hadn’t said anything that made her think he noticed. A smirk formed on his face as he looked at her. He gave her a nod and chuckled.

“Enjoying the view, Riles?” George asked, his voice flirtatious, like it always was.

This was the party Riley was good at. She could flirt her way into almost anything but she was never very good at getting anything more than that. It had to be because she wanted the one guy she couldn’t have. Making her way over toward him, she matched his smirk and rested her back up against the compartment door next to him.

“You bet. Those first years didn’t know what they were getting into. It’s a shame you couldn’t do anything better.”

“You don’t think I wanted to? The last time we sent six kids to Madame Pomfrey she had Dumbledore take away half our stash!” George explained before turning to face her, a sneaky look on his face. “Although, we were not the ones that should have gotten in trouble. If I recall, that was your idea.”

Riley stood there, laughing awkwardly, scratching her head. “Oh yeah, I remember that day. They all turned purple and were throwing up glitter. That was a good day.”

His arms crossed over his chest. “Yeah, it was and why didn’t you get in trouble?”

“I’m a perfect Slytherin, that’s why. I was just living up to my house qualities is all. It’s not my fault you and your brother get caught easily.”

Their relationship was always like this. That was exactly how Riley liked it. If she wasn’t going to get more than a friendship out of him, this would be enough. At least then she got to spend time with him. He laughed and when he did, she couldn’t help but smile. Hearing him laugh always made her feel good. It managed to brighten her day.

As they departed the train at the station, Riley slipped back over toward her friends. They’d started asking her a million questions about where she’d gone and whom she’d been with. None of them would ever understand, after all, they knew nothing of her crush. Heading into the castle, everything seemed alright. She’d go right back to forgetting about those silly Gryffindors.

Plopping down onto the couch in the Slytherin, she put her feet up, sinking into her chair. Letting her head rest on the headrest, she sighed, wondering why sh’d let herself get caught in this mess. It wasn’t going to make anything any easier. Why couldn’t she have someone to talk to? The longer she sat on the couch, the worse and worse she felt about herself. This wasn’t going to help at all.

Groaning, she sat up, ran her hand through her hair and pulled it up into a quick ponytail. She had to get out of that common room, away from the people that made her question her judgement. Storming out of the dungeon, she found herself pacing back and forth in the hallways. Her quietness was interrupted by footsteps. Spinning her head around, she saw George standing there, in front of her, looking as beautiful as ever. 

“Stalking me, are you?” Riley asked, looking up at him.

“I might be,” he stated, taking a step toward her. 

Riley tilted her head up, letting her eyes meet his. This had been happening far too often lately; not that she was complaining. Her chest moved up and down as he moved closer and closer. What was he doing? Did he know that she liked him? Swallowing, she tried to stay as calm as she possibly could. There was no way of telling what he was thinking or what he was going to do to her. 

“What are you doing?” Riley asked, her voice soft like a whisper.

“Do you not want me to?” he whispered back, now a few centimeters from her.  
“Not want you to do what?”

George said nothing. He only moved even closer with his body now up against hers. His head was tilted down to face hers, but he didn’t move. For months, he’d thought of kissing her, of wondering what it was like, but he couldn’t. His brother would have his head and he didn’t ever want to disappoint him. The two of them were best friends and everything he did, he shared with his brother. He couldn’t share this, as much as he wanted to. 

Gently, he reached over toward her face and pushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear. Leaning down, he took a deep breath, ready to kiss her before he stopped. He couldn’t do it. It wasn’t right. If they were going to do it, it had to be better, it had to be the right moment. This wasn’t it. The girl was special. From the moment he’d met her, the moment he’d let her join him in a prank, George had known there was something different about her, something not entirely Slytherin. He liked it, perhaps far too much.

Now was not the time and both of them knew it. As he moved closer, her chest moved up and down, hoping he would lean closer and close the gap between the two of them, kissing her. Yet, he didn’t. Instead, Riley heard fireworks above her head. She looked up to see green and silver fireworks bursting. It started off slow and escalated. A smile slipped across her face. George stepped back, shoving his hands in his pockets.

“I’m sorry, I wanted to, but I can’t,” George said, his voice soft.

Riley shook her head and twirled her finger around her hair, shaking her head. “No, I understand.”

“Do you?” he asked, wanting to take a step closer to her. There were so many things he wanted to tell her, so many things he wanted to explain, but he was afraid of whom might come down the hallways. 

“Yes, I do.”

He spun on his heels, shook his head and walked off in the other direction. George hated himself for just leaving her like that. This wasn’t like him to not take advantage of an opportunity, but he knew he needed to talk to Fred. That conversation wouldn’t end well. Before anything happened, his brother needed to know about his crush. Everything that happened in the other’s lives, they knew about. There were even times when the other guessed it first.

Standing in the middle of the hallway, Riley stared off in the direction he’d walked off. What had she done to make him leave like that? She knew she was a Slytherin, but they’d always had fun with each other. It shouldn’t have mattered at that moment, but to him, it did. This only made Riley angry, frustrated and beyond irritated. She wanted to storm up to the first innocent first year and hex them into a wall.

Instead, she headed back to the common room, grabbed her books and headed to Potions. It always managed to make everything better. However, upon hearing Professor Snape’s news, all she wanted to do was groan with disgust. Riley had been lucky to be one of the few not previously assigned a partner and sh immediately made her way to Taylor James. Being paired with her would make the silly requirement much better.

Taylor turned to her and before Riley could say anything, Taylor’s arms were crossed over her chest. Her eyes were narrowed at her friend. Sitting down, she continued to look at her, giving her the look that Riley knew all too well. It happened when Taylor knew she was hiding something. From the look on her face, Taylor knew it was something big this time.

“What the hell happened, Riles?”

“We had a moment today and he just ran off, telling me he couldn’t. What the fuck did I do wrong?” 

Shaking her head, she opened up her potions book, so it looked like they were doing work. She flipped to the page before she leaned closer to her friend, responding, “Nothing. Look, George and his brother are super close. You know that. If anything’s going to happen, he has to talk to him first. They’re a package deal. If the other brother doesn’t like the girlfriend, they’re screwed.”

“That’s bullshit. It shouldn’t matter if George is happy.”

“Thinking about it will only make it worse,” she explained before a sinister smile grew on Taylor’s face. “I’ve got a solution. You need to freeze him out, not completely, but be as sweet and completely opposite of yourself. Be kind, be the opposite of whom he knows you as. When he realizes it, which won’t be too long, he’ll ask you what happened. That’s when you snap on him and just unleash the Everwood fury.”

Riley tilted her head to the side, looking at her confused, questioning her, “What in Merlin’s name is the Everwood fury?”

Taylor couldn’t help but laugh, her laugh erupting through the classroom as she let her head fall back in laughter. The minute Snape turned his head, scowling in their direction, Taylor sat straight in her chair and read through the ingredients knowing they’d get in trouble if they didn’t at least try the potion. 

“Both you and Callie have anger issues and it’s rather amusing. You’re different from each other, but you both can get quite loud and seemingly violent.”

Riley couldn’t help but smirk before she stood up and grabbed some of the ingredients for the recipe. As she started following it, she ran her hand through her hair, turning to her friend. “You’re a genius you know and I’ve got a genius way to get it done right.”


	3. Partners Again

Callie rolled her eyes as she opened her book to the correct page. He glared at her and mumbled under his breath. Sighing, she turned back to look at him. They weren’t going to get anything done this year. It was obvious. Most of the year was going to be spent with Callie yelling at him and pushing him constantly. How in the world had she gotten stuck with such a prick?

“What do you want me to say?” Callie snapped.

“You could be nicer to me. I’m your partner for the rest of the year.”

“Are you going to be an arrogant prat for the rest of the year?”  
Draco laughed and shrugged before he responded, “That all depends on how nice you are to me.”

“That all depends on how you act,” Callie confirmed.

“You’re going to have to get used to me ecause I’m not changing.”

Callie dropped he head onto the table and mumbled, “This is going to be a long year.”

Draco flipped his book open to the page and began reading the ingredients. He walked over to the cabinet and collected what they needed. Bringing it back to the desk and cauldrons, he began to work. He grabed the cow’s eyeballs and placed them on the cutting board, cutting them up into small pieces.

“What the fuck are you doing? NO!” Callie shouted, pulling the knife from his hand.

“Hey! I’m doing what the book says!” Malfoy stated, reaching for the knife.

“It says slice not cut!” Callie firmly stated as she pulled the cutting board towards her.

“You do it if you’re so sure,” Draco huffed, leaning back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest.

“The fucking eye is ruined. Go get another one.”

“You go get it, gorgeous.”

Callie shouted, “Will you quit calling me gorgeous, you arrogant ass?”

“No,” Malfoy said, slumping down into his chair. “I’ll call you whatever I want to. Go get that damn eyeball because I did it last time.”

Groaning, Callie pushed her chair away forcefully and stomped over to the cabinet. She collected another eyeball and brought it back over to their table. Dropping it on the cutting board, she handed the knife back to Draco and glared at him.

“Now do it right, ferret, or I swear I’ll hurt you.”

“Stop calling me a ferret, bitch!”

“Stop calling me names, Malfoy!”

Callie sighed, resting her head in her hands and began to mumble, “Why can’t you just be like my best friend? Why does there have to be two fucking sides? I have to deal with the bastard side of it. Fuck.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him look at her. She could have sworn that just for a moment, she could see the guy she thought she knew. There was something in his eyes that wasn’t so mean. But as she turned her head towards him to look more carefully, it disappeared. Her shoulders dropped as she tried to focus on the lesson, reading the next ingredient on the list.

Belladonna; it was one of the first things students used in potions. She reached for the bottle across Draco and dropped a tiny bit into the cauldron. He forcefully pushed her hand away, smacking the essence out of her hand. Quickly, she reached for her wand and muttered a spell under her breath. The vile flew back into her hand. It was placed on the table and the cork shoved back on.

“You could have spilled it you twat!” Callie hollered at Draco.

“But I didn’t!”

“Because I saved it!”

“Good girl, Everwood,” Draco teased.

Callie pushed him lightly and continued on the potion. She couldn’t stand him. He was an asshole, a complete asshole. How on Earth was she supposed to spend all year being his partner if he was going to behave like this? The rest of class, the two quarreled, shouting back and forth. Both of them were sure the rest of the class was getting fed up with hearing them shout.

As class finally ended, the two finished up their potion, collected it in a vile and rushed out of the classroom faster than anyone could imagine. Draco ran one way and Callie stood still, waiting for Georgia and Hermione. The two girls emerged from the door and stood in front of her, crossing their arms over their chests.

“Thanks, Callie, just thanks. We couldn’t finish our potion because you were screaming too loud!” Hermione cried.

“I’m sorry, it’s not my fault he’s obnoxious,” Callie said.

“You could at least try to be nice and keep him quiet so the rest of us can do work!” Georgia stated.

Storming out of the room, Riley stopped in front of Callie, staring at her. “Bloody fuck, Cal. Could you be any damn louder? Keep it down next time or you know I’ll hex you to another country.”

“You wouldn’t dare, Barnabus.”

Riley stepped closer, grabbing hold of Callie’s shirt and rested her head up against her forehead, scowling, “Don’t you ever call me that again.”

Callie couldn’t help but laugh and pushed her sister’s hands off her, nodding with a laugh. “Alright, alright, just don’t hex me, jeez.”

Rolling her eyes, Riley flashed her a small smile before she headed down the hallway with Taylor, the two talking about something no one else should hear. As they left, Harry and Ron headed out of the classroom, having only heard the tale end of the conversation, trying not to laugh as Callie’s step sister yelled at her. Harry was always amused by how different the two were. 

“What? We were quiet for a moment and I thought I saw a shimmer in his eyes,” Callie explained, her voice soft.  
Harry and Ron cackled, falling forward, holding onto their stomachs. They attempted to say something, but couldn’t and in return, continued laughing.

“WHAT?” Callie asked, snapping her head towards the two boys.

“There...” Ron chuckled,”will never,” and chuckled again” be a shimmer,” and once again, “in his eyes,” he tried to say through his laugh but it didn’t help considering he folded over again.

Callie narrowed her eyes at the two boys, grumbling, “But I saw it!”

“You saw wrong, Callie,” Harry said.

She groaned, raced over and whacked both the boys over the head before storming away from them. Harry and Ron turned to Hermione and Georgia confused. Usually Callie never whacked them, but lately it had become a regular thing. Something was bugging her and they wanted to find out, especially because their heads were starting to hurt. The two girls shrugged as the four of them continued up to the common room, but the two boys rubbed their heads the whole way up.

The four reached the common room to find Callie standing at the window, staring out at the rain. They quietly moved up to their dorms to collect their books for their next class. Georgia stopped at the door to the common room, watching Callie. She knew her friend had to get to class, but she seemed very focused on the rain. Slowly, Callie headed down to Herbology with her book and paper, completely distracted.

She reached class late and looked around at the pairings, noticing it was very similar to Potions. Professor Sprout smiled at her and pointed to the seat next to Draco Malfoy. Callie groaned, moved over to the seat and rested her head in her hands in annoyance. Next to her, she heard a low laugh. Removing her hands from her face, she turned, ready to rip him a new one when she saw him smirking.

“Do I really have to be your partner again?” Callie asked, scoffing.

Draco smirked once again, responding, “Yes. Do you have a problem with it?”

“I don’t want to have to deal with you for two classes. One is plenty!”

“You should be glad you’ve got me. A lot of girls would kill for this seat.”

“They can have it, ferret! I don’t want it.”

“Can’t do much about it now, Everwood.”

“I can,” Callie said, turning to look up at her professor. “Professor Sprout, can I change partners? Please.”

Professor Sprout turned her attention towards Callie and shook her head, answering her question, “I’m sorry Miss Everwood, the seating arrangements are final.”

Callie grumbled and banged her head against the table. She had to deal with Draco for another class. One class was more than enough. Her hands went over her head as she started mumbling. How did this happen? Was Dumbledore trying to bother her and drive her insane?

“Talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity,” Draco stated, laughing.

“Maybe I am insane! I’m having dreams about people that I can’t believe would ever do what they did in the dreams! So go ahead and call me bloody insane!” Callie snapped.

Draco rolled his eyes and mumbled to himself, “I never actually said she was insane and she bloody bites my head off.”

Callie lifted her head and matched his previous smirk, saying, “I’m not the only one who’s exhibiting the first sign of insanity.”

Draco merely glared at her. He watched her calm down and breathe deeply. She was beautiful, but he’d never say it out loud. There were quite a few girls he found attractive, but he never planned on thinking that about a Gryffindor, let alone her. As she turned her body toward him, he tried not to focus on watching her talk, thinking of good comebacks to almost anything.

“Can we please get through this class without fighting?” she asked.

Shrugging, Draco went to reach for the book, but she was too quick and grabbed it before he did. She placed it in front of the two of them, flipping to the indicated page. Her laugh echoed through the room. 

“What?” Draco asked.

“There’s no way in hell I’m building a fort with you.”

“We have to build a fort?” Draco asked, scrunching up his face in disgust.

Callie nodded and pointed to the book, responding, “And without magic.”

“You’re joking, right?”

“Would I joke about something like this?”

Draco nodded. Callie rolled her eyes and passed him three sticks. “Now, hold these sticks straight.”

He sighed adn took the sticks fom her, doing what she said, holding them straight. Callie held onto a piece of string and tried to tie the strings together with it, snapping at him, “Hold them tighter. They’re slipping!”

“I’m trying!” Draco snapped back.

She finally tightened the string and passed him more sticks. Why did she have to this? What was the point of this.

“What good is this stuff?” Draco asked, sighing.

“This holds the fort up,” Callie stated in a ‘duh’ tone.

“I mean, why the fuck are we making a fort?”

Callie lifted her head for a moment, stopping before she responded, “Oh. I think Dumbledore wants inter-house relationships. He wants us to be able to work together.”

Draco scoffed, “Riiight.”

“You don’t think it’s possible?” Callie asked, turning to face him.

“I think it’s unlikely.”

“Are you saying that Gryffindors and Slytherins won’t be able to cooperate together or even tolerate each other?”

“Considering all they do is fight and hate each other, no,” Draco said, shrugging.

She lifted her head slightly, letting a small smile grow on her face as she spoke, softly, “Now they do. What about when they were younger? Future Gryffindors and Slytherins got along just fine dancing in the rain.”

Draco stopped, frozen, unable to speak. He opened his mouth to talk, but couldn’t form words. Callie turned to look at him, letting a smirk fall across her face, asking, “What?”

“N-Nothing,” Draco said, shaking his head, looking down at his hands.

“You used to do that, didn’t you?”

He lifted his head, looking up at her, mumbling, “What?”

“Dance in the rain. I can see it in your eyes.”

Shaking his head, Draco looked back down and said, “I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”

Callie picked up a piece of wood for the fort, turned away from him and said, nonchalantly, “Sure, whatever you say, PD.”

Snapping his head up to look at her, Draco asked, unsure and confused, “What did you call me?”

“You heard me.”

Draco looked at her for a moment, just staring at her before he looked back down at the desk. He fiddled with his hands. How was he supposed to say anything now? Draco knew exactly what she was talking about, but now was not the time to mention it, not at all. He fiddled with pieces of wood, watching her out of the corner of his eye, seeing her shift in her chair and face him. 

“You remember, don’t you?” Callie asked, her voice soft and gentle.

He liked her voice that way. Trying not to look at her, he asked, his voice the opposite of hers, hostile, “What am I supposed to be remembering?”

“Don’t you remember dancing in the rain with forest green galoshes, PD?”

Draco picked up a loose strand of string and twirld it between his fingers, wanting to ignore her questions. He didn’t want to talk about this, not right now. It was making him uncomfortable. There were too many people around.

“Those long afternoons of climbing trees, going back to the house to eat grilled cheese sandwiches and watch movies,” Callie continued.

He ignored her again.

“Those hugs... I miss them.”

Draco blinked and stared into space for a moment before requestion, “Can we just get this fort done?”

Callie sighed and nodded.

The two set to work. When he knew she wasn’t watching, Draco looked at her out of the corner of his eye, a pained expression on his face. By the end of the class, the fort was ¾ of the way done. Callie slipped her book into her bag. Her hands rubbed her arms lightly as she let her mind wander back to those hugs. She sat there, deep in thought, not even noticing her friends standing by her.

“Are you coming, Cal?” Hermione asked.

Snapping out of her trance, Callie mumbled, “Huh?”

“Are you coming or should we just meet you up there?” Harry asked.

Humming, she shook her head and said, “You guys go ahead. I’ll be up in a second.”

Her friends dodded and left the room, leaving her and Malfoy alone; whose friends had ditched him far before. She slid the rest of her stuff into the bag and slowly walked to the door of the classroom. Before she could get out, she felt someone grab her wrist. As she was about to turn around, she felt a pair of arms wrap around her from behind. Jumping, Callie couldn’t help but smile, letting them hold her.

The person spun her around and held her close, resting his chin on her shoulder, whispering in her ear, “I missed them too.”

Callie closed her eyes and pulled away from the hug, ever so slightly, looking into those eyes she missed so much. Draco stood there, smirking and asked, his voice completely different from what it was a few minutes ago, “You didn’t think I’d actually let you walk out of here without giving you a hug, did you?”

“I was starting to doubt it.”

“It’s been so long and when you mentioned it, I... I couldn’t help myself.”

Callie smiled, whispering, “I’m glad you did.”

“You should probably go, you know. Your friends must be waiting for you.”

Callie’s face fell as she nodded.

“It’s suposed to rain tomorrow afternoon. You and me outside, 4 o’clock.”

Her face brightened as she gasped, “Really?”

Draco simply nodded and said, “Don’t tell anyone.”

A larger grin grew across Callie’s face. She wrappd her arms aroun his neck. His arms tightened around her waist, lifted her up and spun her around in a circle, asking, “Callie?”

He put her down and she loked into his smoky blue eyes, giggling, “Hmm?”

“Firstly, don’t get lost in my eyes and secondly, don’t tell anyone about these hugs and that I’m being nice to you.”

“But why?” she asked, laughing.

“I’ve got a reputation as a bad boy so by being nice to you, that all disappears.”

Callie bit her lip as she breathed deeply, her chest moving up and down as she spoke, “That day on the train... you... you were so different, so... gorgeous.”

Draco smirked, laughing lightly as he asked, “Did you say gorgeous?”

“Yeah, why?”

“This is a conversation for a later time. Tomorrow, in the rain, I’ll tell you the whole story,” he said.

Callie smiled nodded and hugged him again. He chuckled and let her run off to her friends. Scooping up his bag, Draco walked out of the classroom and slowly up to the Slytherin common room. He dropped his bag next to the couch and fell on it. His hands ran throuh his hair, messing up the gel and fluffing his hair. 

She made him feel so strange. It had been so many years since he’d hugged her. Why did he now have to realize it? Why did it have to be when his reputation was just starting to strengthen? People were getting more and more terrified of him and he had just found his best friend. She had to be a Gryffindor and Potter’s friend.

He sighed and let his mind wander, thinking back to those days in the rain and his favorite; it was the day she told him she’d miss him when they both went off to the school. It was always the clearest one in his mind.

It was raining hard onto Draco Malfoy’s window. He looked out at the droplets as he sniffled. He was losing his best friend today. They were both going off to schol and neither could tell each other where they were going. Eleven year old Draco ran out of his house and knocked on his friend’s door.

It was opened immediately. He sniffed as he said, softly, “I’ll miss you so much, Callie.”

Callie nodded and began to cry. She pulled him into the house and shut the door behind him. Her arms were wrapped around his neck and his around her waist. He pulled her close and held her tight. When they finally pulled away, Callie looked into his eyes and cried again.

“Hey, don’t worry PC, we’ll see each other again soon. I promise.”

“Are you sure about that, Draco?”

“I’m sure, Callie. I’m not going t let us not see each other. We’ll visit each other during holidays or something. We’ll work it out.”

“I hope you’re right, PD,” she said, hugging him once again.

He slowly let go and held onto her hand a little too long. She blushed as he opend the door again, waving to her. He started walking back to his house when he heard his name being called.

“Draco, wait!”

He turned around to find Callie standing in the rain, looking at him. She ran up to him, leaned in and placed a kiss on his heek, turning his cheek a rosy red.

“I had to do that before you left.”

“You know, I’m really going to miss you, Callie.”

“I’m going to miss you too, Draco.”

They hugged what felt like forever before their parents called them inside.

He smiled at the memory, still feeling her soft lips on his cheek. His hand rose up to his face, lightly stroking his cheek. Quickly, he shook himself out of it, knowing he had that reputation to keep and couldn’t be thinking about a girl who made him blush five years ago. He couldn’t help but wonder why they hadn’t met up for the holidays. Was it his fault? Had he changed and not wanted to see her? He had to do something. Rushing out of the common room, he tried to breathe, still not sure what h was going to do.

Meanwhile, Callie reached the Gryffindor common room where her friends sat by the fire, doing their homework together. She plopped down onto one of the seats next to Hermione.

“What took you so long, Callie?” Ron asked, looking up from his book that he wasn’t really paying attention to.

“I had to talk to Professor Sprout,” she answered, getting comfortable.

Ron raised hsi eyebrows, not believing her. Across from her, Gerogia crossed her arms over her chest. She had an idea of what might have happened. Callie had been acting weird and Georgia expected something. There was something bugging her and it surely wasn’t Professor Sprout. She’d figure it out, somehow. Her friend was always good about talking about her problems, so why not now?

Callie backed up from Georgia’s glance. She knew something and Callie wasn’t going to confirm or deny what it might have been. It was a secret and right now, she had to keep it. Nonchalantly, Callie rubbed her arm. Within the next few minutes, she was cringing and squeezing her arm. Letting out a loud groan, she stood up and rushed to the door.

“I’ve got to go, sorry guys. I’ll see you later.”

Rushing out of the common room door, down the stairs, she headed out of the castle. Running to the gate of the school, she whispered a spell under her breath and unlocked it before slipping out and disappearing. Reaching her destination, she sighed, relieved of her pain. Her hands reached for the cloak hanging on a statue. She threw it over her clothes and flipped the hood up, covering her face.


	4. The Map

It wasn’t going to be easy, that was for sure. Riley knew what she’d be getting into, especially with a guy like George. He knew Hogwarts like the back of his hand and if she was going to get anywhere with trying to get his attention, she’d have to do a little research. There were a few people to ask, but she was only close enough with one of them. If she could, she’d ask Taylor James. Even though the girl knew the ins and outs of Hogwarts, she didn’t know enough. If Riley wanted to do this right, she needed to talk to her sister.

Callie wasn’t going to be easy to find. She walked all around the castle in search of her, ultimately finding her on her way to the library. Stopping her, she smiled at her, giving her a small wave. It was strange to be talking to her in school. This didn’t happen very often at all. Scratching her head awkwardly, she looked to her sister, ready for what might be an interesting conversation.

“Cal, I’m trying to do a little spying on someone for a prank and I was wondering if you could help.”

“Oh yeah?” Callie asked, smirking, shifting slightly. “Who might you be spying on?”

“Some innocent third year. Look, the rumor is you’ve got a way to know someone’s whereabouts at all times.”

Callie swallowed and pursed her lips, looking down at her feet. She trusted Riley, but part of her was nervous. Nodding, she gestured for Riley to follow her. Heading down the hallway, she grabbed her sister’s arm and pulled her into a corner. From out of her book, she grabbed a piece of parchment and placed it on top of the books she was holding. Riley looked down at it, raising her eyebrows in confusion.

“A piece of parchment? What the hell is that gonna do?”

“Shut up. Listen,” Callie started, pointing at the map with her wand. “This isn’t an ordinary map. There are two phrases you’ve got to remember and don’t let anyone see you with it. I borrowed it from Harry and thankfully he hasn’t asked for it back.”

Tilting her head to the side, Riley hummed softly, “I promise. What do I have to do?”

Holding out her wand, Callie tapped the piece of parchment and said, “I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.”

In front of Riley’s eyes, the map came to life, ink covering the pages to reveal a beautiful cover; The Marauder’s Map. Her eyes widened as she gasped, in shock. Stepping next to her sister, she looked over her shoulder, fascinated. Callie opened it up and showed it all to her, carefully.

“It has everyone you’d ever want, everywhere. See, Professor Snape’s pacing in his office and Harry’s stalking Cho Chang. Shocking, really.”

Riley laughed and grinned, nodding happily as she said, “It’s perfect.”

Callie turned to face her sister, looking at her with a serious look on her face, saying, “Now, when you’re done or when anyone else is around you, tap it again and say, ‘Mischief Managed’, got it?”

“Yeah, I’ve got it. Thank you, Callie, really. This is going to help, a lot.”

“You’re welcome. Just be sure to give it back when you’re done.”

Riley watched as Callie tapped it again and took it from her before running through the hallways back down to the dungeons to get some peace and quiet. She grabbed her class books and put the map in between, heading over. For the whole class period, she was antsy, wanting to use it, wanting to see exactly what it did. She had Herbology with Callie and kept looking over to her and Draco, quite amused as to what was going on between the two.

But, she didn’t care at all. She was barely even paying attention in class. Once it was over, Riley raced out of there faster than she thought she could and headed up to her dormitory. They had a free period and all of the girls were usually out, either hexing someone, trying to flirt with a boy or doing something else. She sat down on the bed and looked down at the parchment, taking a deep breath.

Tapping the piece of parchment, she said, “I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.”

Carefully, Riley opened up the map, looking down at it in fascination. How someone had created something like this? It was beyond unebelievable and she didn’t think anything could be unbelievable after finding out she was a wizard. Whoever she wanted to find, she could. Opening up all of the flaps, spreading out the map as evenly as she could, Riley looked over it, searching for the one name she wanted.

There was more on the map than she had ever thought she’d know about. She found secret passages around the castle that would have never even crossed her mind. The world was so much bigger than she had anticipated. How was she supposed to find him now? Scanning over every inch of the map, she kept her eyes out. In one of the hallways on the lower floor, she saw his name, standing still. Next to him stood his brother and an innocent third year whose name she didn’t recognize.

She folded the map up to where she could hold it as well as see where she was going. Shrugging on her cloak, she tucked her wand inside it and headed out of the Slytherin dungeons. Riley followed the map before peering around the corner and seeing a kid screeching. There were two suits of armors refusing to let him pass. He sounded like he was about to cry and all Riley could do was laugh. She pulled her wand out and whispered ‘Mischief Managed’ under her breath before folding the map up carefully, shoving it into her pocket. Her wand was tucked back inside her cloak and she walked over toward him.

“Not bad, Weasleys. I expected more of you and I would have had the suits of armor torture him a little more, but you’re not me, are you?”

Fred glared at her, crossing his arms over his chest, expecting his brother to do the same. When George didn’t, Fred snapped his head toward him, waiting for a response. He wanted his brother to stand up against the girl with him and say something. There was something strange about the way George was looking at her. Fred hated it, hated it more than he thought he would. But what could he say now? He didn’t know why it was happening.

George chuckled and stepped forward to confront her, “No, I’m not and you know very well, Riley, that this is a little prank, something to pass the time.”

He stood directly in front of her, staring down at her, being quite a bit taller than her. Riley’s chest moved up and down as she looked up into his eyes, trying her best not to turn bright red. She always loved standing so close to him. He smelled incredible and she loved the warmth that radiated from him. It bothered her that she couldn’t just wrap her arms around him and hold him.

“If you say so. Now, do you mind? I’d like to show the kid how a real prank’s done,” Riley said, taking a step back from him.

She moved away from him, to head over toward the kid. George stood there, spinning around to look at her, suspicious. He had wanted to give her a hug, but she was treating him differently. Usually she would flirt back with him, but she wasn’t today and he wanted to know why. Riley would turn back and look at him with a smirk on her face before she pulled a prank, but not today. She wasn’t going to look at him until she was done.

George stood there, unsure of whether or not he should say something to her. Something was off and he really didn’t like it. He wanted to pay attention to what kind of prank she was going to pull on the kid, but he couldn’t focus on that. When he liked girls, he was usually very good at flirting with them and getting exactly what he wanted, but there was something different with Riley. Firstly, she was in a completely different house, one he never thought he’d like a girl from.

Tilting her head up to face the ceiling, Riley pulled her wand out of her cloak and turned to look down at the third year standing in front of her. He looked horribly frightened. Spinning her wand in between her fingers, she chuckled, whispering a spell under her breath. As she pointed her wand at him, watching him as a smirk slipped across her face. The kid’s eyes darted up to the ceiling as he shrieked. From his eyes, it looked as if the ceiling was falling. 

He threw his hands up in the air as if to protect himself. It was a useless effort as in a few seconds, the kid was awkwardly flailing as he fell backwards, screaming loudly. Curling up into a little ball, he wrapped his arms around himself as he hyperventilated. His whole body was shaking and when Riley took a step toward him, he cowered into a smaller ball. With a wave of her wand, she relieved him of the perception that frightened him so much. 

George watched her spin to face him, looking up at him with an expressionless look on her face. Looking over her shoulder, he glanced down at the kid who was curled up on the floor, visibly shaking. He couldn’t figure out how she’d done that or what she’d done to him. It had something to do with his perception, but that was a prank Fred and George had never really done before, for fear the kid might rat on them. But would he really rat on a Slytherin? That wouldn’t necessarily be good for him. 

“How’d you do to him, Riles?”

“That’s a secret,” she responded before spinning on her feet and walking away from him.

As she walked away, Riley overheard Fred and George talking. She didn’t like what she was hearing, but she knew it had to happen. George needed to tell his brother how he felt, if it was anything. She hoped it would be, but she couldn’t be promised anything. Riley pressed her body up against the wall to carefully listen to the conversation between the twins.

“What the hell was that?”

“What? She’s good at pranks, Fred.”

“I don’t know what’s gotten into you.”

“Yeah, you do, you’re my brother.”

Fred took a deep breath, crossing his arms over his chest. They told each other everything and now, his brother was keeping something from. It wasn’t just irritating, it was upsetting. 

“Look, Fred, I don’t know what’s happening—“

“—but you like the girl.”

George shrugged his shoulders before he tried to breathe deeply, controlling his breathing. He hadn’t intended to make his brother irritated in any way, but he hadn’t intended to crush on a Slytherin either. From the moment he’d met her, he’d been intrigued. 

“I think I do. I don’t know. I’d like to get to know her, properly.”

Fred stared at his brother, blinking, completely shocked by what he was hearing but nodded nonetheless. He knew the only way to figure out what you really wanted was to go for it. The two of them had dreams and if they didn’t try to follow their dreams, they would never get anywhere. But Fred had never anticipated that they’d come to this type of situation. They always told each other about the girls they liked and were each other’s wing men. Fred wasn’t sure if he wanted to be his wing man to a Slytherin girl.

“Okay. Look, mate, I’m not happy about this, but if it’s what you want, I’ll deal, I guess.”

Riley took a deep breath, wrapping her arms around herself. She’d never heard the two of them fight before and now, she hated that she was the cause of it. Running from the two of them, she just ran, not even sure where she was going. There were so many corridors and stairwells. If she didn’t know where she was going, she figured she’d get lost. By the time she stopped running, Riley sank to the floor, letting her head fall into her hands. 

Above her, she heard someone whispering, teasing echoing through the hall. Lifting her head, Riley was ready to snap at whomever had decided to taunt her. As she looked around, she saw no one, but only heard the teasing again. Groaning, she peeked around, looking for the source. When she couldn’t see anyone, she opened up the map. Flipping through it, she tried to figure out where she might be. It was far more confusing that she had hoped.

Peeves may lurk here.

Chuckling to herself, Riley dropped the map in her lap. Her head fell back against the wall, looking up at the ceiling. She knew he was here. The last time she had an encounter with him, she’d threatened him, promising him that if he ever pissed her off like that again, she’d find a hex that worked on a ghost. She’d started looking, but so far didn’t have any luck. There had to be someone who’d know something about it. 

“I know you’re here, Peeves. You know not to piss me off.”

Once again, she heard a loud laugh and wanted nothing more than to sock him in the face. He was highly irritating and couldn’t figure out why he liked to annoy her so much. Standing up, she pulled out her wand, ready to start spouting off spells, even if she didn’t know any that would work. Down from the ceiling, Peeves flew, grinning at her, cheekily. He crossed his arms over his chest and dove down to look straight at her.

“Hi there, Riley. Come on, I’m just playing with you. You look upset. You’re no fun when you’re upset. Come on, taunt me back.”

Riley stared at him as her chest moved up and down, helping her take deep breaths. Clenching her wand tightly, she continued pointing it at him. She hated when people expected certain things of her. 

“Do you have any idea how much you irritate me? And not just me, everyone! I’m not in the fucking mood to deal with any of your bullshit, Peeves! You are so fucking lucky I don’t know any hexes that could seriously harm you,” she spat.

Behind her, she heard footsteps and a familiar voice, her best friend’s. Spinning around, she practically screamed at him, “What the fuck do you want, Malfoy?”

“Woah woah, calm down, Riles. The others and I have been looking for you. Is everything alright?”

Shoving her wand in her cloak, she grumbled, folded the map up and put it in her cloak before running away from him and yelling, “Just leave me alone.”

But Draco wasn’t going to leave her alone. There was something bothering her and as her best friend, he had to try and make her feel better. Catching up with her, he grabbed hold of her arm, stopping her. 

“What has got you so ticked?”

All Riley did was shake her head. She waved him off and ran through the corridors again. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, she wanted to talk to her sister. Even though they didn’t get along, at least as sisters she liked to think they had some sort of unspoken bond about keeping secrets. Sneaking into a corner, she opened up the map, looking for her sister. She wasn’t anywhere on the map. Riley was aware of the fact that there were hidden locations, but Callie never seemed like the type. 

Upon seeing Georgia’s name, Riley headed to her. She wasn’t that hard to find and as she ran toward her, she felt odd about talking to her. The two of them had never really gotten along. Awkwardly scratching her head, she put on her best smile and gave Georgia a small wave.

“Hey, Georgia, I’m looking for Callie, do you know where she is?”

She wasn’t sure what the look on Georgia’s face was. It was something strange, something she’d never seen before.

“I... I don’t know, look, I’ve got to go,” she said before running off.

Throwing her hands up in frustration, Riley ran over to the redhead she knew as one of George’s brothers, Ron. She tapped his shoulder and swallowed, taking a deep breath, not really looking forward to talking to him. There was something about the Gryffindors that hung around Harry Potter that made her feel out of place. 

“Weasley. Do you know where Callie is? I need to talk to her, now.”

Ron looked around awkwardly and leaned forward, pursing his lips, whispering, “I don’t know what’s going on, but Georgia won’t tell any of us where she went, but this happens often. She’ll just disappear and none of us can find her. When she comes back, she acts like nothing happened.”

“What? How often does it happen?”

“At least every other day. I know she’s gotten detention a couple times, but I still don’t understand why,” Ron explained.

Riley nodded and left him alone, not even bothering to say thank you. Where did Callie disappear to? Did this really happen that often? She wanted to know where she was, but if none of them knew and neither did the map, how in the world was she supposed to find her? The best thing to do would be to wait. Talking was never something she was good at, but it had to happen right now. Her head was spinning from all of the thinking. 

The Slytherin in her was getting mad at herself for worrying so much about this. Even though she wasn’t always the nicest person, she did get worried about things, about how people saw her, especially George. He made her feel really special and she wanted to make him feel the same way. Riley headed back to the common room to grab her books for her next class, trying to use it as a distraction from everything. Tapping the map, she made everything disappear and put it in between her books, planning on giving it back to Callie for now.


End file.
